Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

On Wednesday the Obama Administration is set to unilaterally designate a 600,000 acre national monument in New Mexico near the U.S.-Mexican border. The sanctuary, which will be called the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, has drawn sharp criticism from law enforcement who say it will impede border security. "By creating this monument, President Obama is ensuring a pathway to get drugs into the country" Zack Taylor, Chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, told Breitbart Texas.
The Obama Administration will ultimately control how much access Border Patrol agents will have to the land, including whether or not they will be able to use vehicles.
Taylor, who has 26 years of border security experience, pointed out that one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Juarez, Mexico, is right across the New Mexico border. Impeding law enforcement near this section of the border could allow Juarez's cartels and violence to enter the U.S. with ease.
"This is the wrong place to put a monument," Taylor said. "The New Mexico border has no river--it's just an imaginary line. If criminal illegal aliens can walk across the border and into the sanctuary area, they will use that land for criminal acitivy and use it extensively. Everything surrounding the monument is in peril."
Advocates of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument claim the land needs to be preserved for environmental reasons. But opponents claim this argument is a deflection from the real issue, which is the safety of U.S. citizens.
"Who benefits form this more than the cartels?" Taylor asked. "The people who live there don't benefit, law enforcement doesn't benefit, the sheriffs don't benefit. The only people who benefit from this monument are illegal illegal immigrants brining drugs into this country. Environmentalists say we're protecting this land by shutting people out, but we're actually doing the opposite."
Taylor concluded, "The Obama Administration is using 'environmental concerns' as a tool to bypass Congress and take over the land. By doing so, he is completely ignoring national security and public safety."...more